Coué's family, from the Brittany region of France and with origins in French nobility, had only modest means. A brilliant pupil in school, he initially intended to become an analytical chemist. However, he eventually abandoned these studies, as his father, who was a railroad worker, was in a precarious financial state. Coué then decided to become a pharmacist and graduated with a degree in pharmacology in 1876.

Working as an apothecary at Troyes from 1882 to 1910, Coué quickly discovered what later came to be known as the placebo effect. He became known for reassuring his clients by praising each remedy's efficiency and leaving a small positive notice with each given medication. In 1886 and 1887 he studied with Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault and Hippolyte Bernheim, two leading exponents of hypnotism, in Nancy.

In 1910, Coué sold his business and retired to Nancy, where he opened a clinic that continuously delivered some 40,000 treatment-units per annum (Baudouin, 1920, p. 14) to local, regional, and overseas patients over the next sixteen years.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In 1913, Coué and his wife founded The Lorraine Society of Applied Psychology (French: La Société Lorraine de Psychologie appliquée). His book Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion was published in England (1920) and in the United States (1922). Although Coué's teachings were, during his lifetime, more popular in Europe than in the United States, many Americans who adopted his ideas and methods, such as Maxwell Maltz, Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent Peale, Robert H. Schuller, and W. Clement Stone, became famous in their own right by spreading his words.

Continuously, unjustly, and mistakenly trivialised as just a hand-clasp, some

unwarranted optimism, and a ‘mantra’, Coué’s method evolved over several
decades of meticulous observation, theoretical speculation, in-the-field testing,
incremental adjustment, and step-by-step transformation.
It tentatively began (c.1901) with very directive one-to-one hypnotic inter-
ventions, based upon the approaches and techniques that Coué had acquired
from an American correspondence course.
As his theoretical knowledge, clinical experience, understanding of
suggestion and autosuggestion, and hypnotic skills expanded, it gradually
developed into its final subject-centred version—an intricate complex of
(group) education, (group) hypnotherapy, (group) ego-strengthening, and
(group) training in self-suggested pain control; and, following instruction in
performing the prescribed self-administration ritual, the twice daily intentional
and deliberate (individual) application of its unique formula, "Every day, in
every way, I’m getting better and better".

The application of his mantra-like conscious autosuggestion, "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better" (French: Tous les jours à tous points de vue je vais de mieux en mieux) is called Couéism or the Coué method.[15] Some American newspapers quoted it differently, "Day by day, in every way, I'm getting better and better." The Coué method centered on a routine repetition of this particular expression according to a specified ritual—preferably as many as twenty times a day, and especially at the beginning and at the end of each day.[16] When asked whether or not he thought of himself as a healer, Coué often stated that "I have never cured anyone in my life. All I do is show people how they can cure themselves." [17] Unlike a commonly held belief that a strong conscious will constitutes the best path to success, Coué maintained that curing some of our troubles requires a change in our unconscious thought, which can be achieved only by using our imagination.

Although stressing that he was not primarily a healer but one who taught others to heal themselves, Coué claimed to have effected organic changes through autosuggestion.[15]

Coué identified two types of self-suggestion: (i) the intentional, "reflective suggestion" made by deliberate and conscious effort, and (ii) the involuntary "spontaneous suggestion", that is a “natural phenomenon of our mental life … which takes place without conscious effort [and has its effect] with an intensity proportional to the keenness of [our] attention” (Baudouin, 1920, pp. 33–34). Baudouin identified three different sources of spontaneous suggestion:

According to Yeates (2016b, p. 42), Coué shared the theoretical position that Hudson had expressed in his Law of Psychic Phenomena (1893): namely, that our "mental organization" was such that it seemed as if we had "two minds, each endowed with separate and distinct attributes and powers; [with] each capable, under certain conditions, of independent action" (Hudson, 1893, p. 25).

Further, argued Hudson (ibid., pp. 25–26), it was entirely irrelevant, for explanatory purposes, whether we actually had "two distinct minds", whether we only seemed to be "endowed with a dual mental organization", or whether we actually had "one mind [possessed of] certain attributes and powers under some conditions, and certain other attributes and powers under other conditions" .

Coué … had been operating a free clinic at his home in Nancy, France, [since

1910] where he used the psychological technique of non-hypnotic suggestion as
group treatment, not only for the supposed mental and physical healing of his
patients, but also for enabling them to improve their character and to attain a
confident self mastery.
He argued that no suggestion made by himself became a reality unless it was
translated by his patients into their own autosuggestion.
Hence they really healed themselves, and could do this even without his
presence if they used the formula "Every day, in every way, I’m getting better
and better."
Rather than making any effort of the will about it, they were to employ this
suggestion while in a state of passive relaxation, such as upon awakening or
just before going to bed at night.
At these times, they rapidly and ritualistically repeated it twenty times,
counting with a string of twenty knots which they slipped through the fingers
one at a time.
Used in this manner, Coué argued, the idea of the formula would penetrate
the unconscious mind, where it would bring about the desired changes in body
or mind.
This would happen, he believed, because the unconscious governed all our
thoughts, behavior, and organic functions.
Indeed, it was so powerful that it controlled us like puppets, unless we in turn
learned how to control it through the self-administration of autosuggestions
which, once accepted by it, would be realized by means of its special powers.
While Coué did not denigrate the conscious self and reason, he certainly
diminished its role, likening it to a little island on the vast ocean of the
unconscious.
But despite such an emphasis on the unconscious, he avoided any mental
analysis of it, arguing that it was better not to know the nature of its contents.

Rapp (1987), pp.17-18.

Coué noticed that in certain cases he could improve the efficacy of a given medicine by praising its effectiveness to the patient. He realized that those patients to whom he praised the medicine had a noticeable improvement when compared to patients to whom he said nothing. This began Coué's exploration of the use of hypnosis and the power of the imagination.

His initial method for treating patients relied on hypnosis. He discovered that subjects could not be hypnotized against their will and, more importantly, that the effects of hypnosis waned when the subjects regained consciousness.[citation needed] He thus eventually turned to autosuggestion, which he describes as

... an instrument that we possess at birth, and with which we play unconsciously all our life, as a baby plays with its rattle. It is however a dangerous instrument; it can wound or even kill you if you handle it imprudently and unconsciously. It can on the contrary save your life when you know how to employ it consciously.[19]

Coué believed in the effects of medication. But he also believed that our mental state is able to affect and even amplify the action of these medications. By consciously using autosuggestion, he observed that his patients could cure themselves more efficiently by replacing their "thought of illness" with a new "thought of cure". According to Coué, repeating words or images enough times causes the subconscious to absorb them. The cures were the result of using imagination or "positive autosuggestion" to the exclusion of one's own willpower.

Coué thus developed a method which relied on the principle that any idea exclusively occupying the mind turns into reality,[citation needed] although only to the extent that the idea is within the realm of possibility. For instance, a person without hands will not be able to make them grow back. However, if a person firmly believes that his or her asthma is disappearing, then this may actually happen, as far as the body is actually able physically to overcome or control the illness. On the other hand, thinking negatively about the illness (ex. "I am not feeling well") will encourage both mind and body to accept this thought. Likewise, when someone cannot remember a name, they will probably not be able to recall it as long as they hold onto this idea (i.e. "I can't remember") in their mind. Coué realised that it is better to focus on and imagine the desired, positive results (i.e. "I feel healthy and energetic" and "I can remember clearly").

Coué observed that the main obstacle to autosuggestion was willpower. For the method to work, the patient must refrain from making any independent judgment, meaning that he must not let his will impose its own views on positive ideas. Everything must thus be done to ensure that the positive "autosuggestive" idea is consciously accepted by the patient; otherwise, one may end up getting the opposite effect of what is desired.[20]

Memorial bust of Coué (detail),St Mary's Park, Nancy.

Monument to Coué,St Mary's Park, Nancy.

For example, when a student has forgotten an answer to a question in an exam, he will likely think something such as "I have forgotten the answer". The more he or she tries to think of it, the more the answer becomes blurred and obscured. However, if this negative thought is replaced with a more positive one ("No need to worry, it will come back to me"), the chances that the student will come to remember the answer will increase.

Coué noted that young children always applied his method perfectly, as they lacked the willpower that remained present among adults. When he instructed a child by saying "clasp your hands and you can't open them", the child would thus immediately follow.

A patient's problems are likely to increase when his willpower and imagination (or mental ideas) are opposing each other, something Coué would refer to as "self-conflict".[citation needed] In the student's case, the will to succeed is clearly incompatible with his thought of being incapable of remembering his answers. As the conflict intensifies, so does the problem: the more the patient tries to sleep, the more he becomes awake. The more a patient tries to stop smoking, the more he smokes. The patient must thus abandon his willpower and instead put more focus on his imaginative power in order to succeed fully with his cure.

Thanks to his method, which Coué once called his "trick",[21] patients of all sorts would come to visit him. The list of ailments included kidney problems, diabetes, memory loss, stammering, weakness, atrophy and all sorts of physical and mental illnesses.[citation needed] According to one of his journal entries (1916), he apparently cured a patient of a uterus prolapse as well as "violent pains in the head" (migraine).[22]

C. (Cyrus) Harry Brooks (1890–1951), author of various books on Coué, claimed the success rate of his method was around 93%.[citation needed] The remaining 7% of people would include those who were too skeptical of Coué's approach and those who refused to recognize it.[citation needed]

The use of autosuggestion is intended to complement use of medicine, but no medication of Coué's time could save a patient from depression or tension. Coué recommended that patients take medicines with the confidence that they would be completely cured very soon, and healing would be optimal. Conversely, he contended, patients who are skeptical of a medicine would find it least effective.[citation needed]

"That Coué’s formula could be applied with a minimum of instruction was challenging; and the accounts of Coué’s method curing organic disease were just as threatening to the conventional medicine
of the day, as they were inspiring to Coué’s devotees" (Yeates, 2016a, p. 19). "Most of us are so accustomed … to an elaborate medical ritual … in the treatment of our ills … [that] anything so simple as Coué’s autosuggestion is inclined to arouse misgivings, antagonism and a feeling of scepticism" (Duckworth 1922, pp. 3–4). According to Yeates (2016a, p. 18), although Coué never produced any empirical evidence for the efficacy of his formula and, therefore, his claims had not been scientifically evaluated, three subsequent experimental studies, conducted more than half a century later — i.e., those of Paulhus (1993) — "seem to offer some unexpected support for Coué’s claims".

According to Yeates (2016a, p. 19), the protests routinely made by those within the psychomedical establishment (e.g., Moxon, 1923; Abraham, 1926) were on one or more of the following grounds:

(1) "Healing of organic disease by 'self-mastery' was impossible! Aside from 'spontaneous remissions' of authentic disease (efficacious vis medicatrix naturæ!), reported 'cures' were either due to mistaken diagnosis (it was never that disease!), or mistaken prognosis (it was always going to get better!). Anyway, even if it had been diagnosed correctly, there was no compelling evidence to suggest that Coué’s approach had been in any way responsible for the cure."

(3) "Despite the obvious fact that each 'disease' had a unique cause, a unique history, and a unique (and idiosyncratic) personal impact, Coué treated a wide range of disparate individuals in the same, single group session, in the same way; and, moreover, he treated them without any sort of detailed examination or differential diagnosis."

(4) "The method’s central 'magical incantation' — a specific formula, uttered a specific number of times, in a special way, using a knotted string — aroused strong opposition, as it reeked of outmoded superstitious practices and beliefs."

While most American reporters of his day seemed dazzled by Coué's accomplishments,[23][24][25] and did not question the results attributed to his method,[26] a handful of journalists and a few educators were skeptical. After Coué had left Boston, the Boston Herald waited six months, revisited the patients he had "cured", and found most had initially felt better but soon returned to whatever ailments they previously had.

Few of the patients would criticize Coué, saying he did seem very sincere in what he tried to do, but the Herald reporter concluded that any benefit from Coué's method seemed to be temporary and might be explained by being caught up in the moment during one of Coué's events.[27] Whilst a number of academic psychologists looked upon his work favourably,[28] others did not.[29] Coué was also criticized by exponents of psychoanalysis,[30] with Otto Fenichel concluding: "A climax of dependence masked as independent power is achieved by the methods of autosuggestion where a weak and passive ego is controlled by an immense superego with magical powers. This power is, however, borrowed and even usurped".[31]

On 28 June 1936, a monument erected to the memory of Coué, funded by worldwide subscription, and featuring a bust of Coué created by French sculptor Eugène Gatelet,[32] was dedicated in St Mary's Park, in Nancy. The bust was stored for safe-keeping during World War II and, post-war, was restored to its former position in 1947.

1922: In the same year as the English translation of Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion is published, the song I'm Getting Better Every Day (words by Percy Edgar, music by Mark Strong) is released.[33]

1923: A Swedish translation of Strong's "I'm Getting Better Every Day" is released by entertainer Ernst Rolf, Bättre och bättre dag för dag (Better and better day by day). It is still a popular refrain in Sweden almost a century later.[34]

1923: The Coué Method is taught in Elsie Lincoln Benedict's How to Get Anything You Want to train the subconscious mind.

1924: In the Broadway musical "Sitting Pretty" (music by Jerome Kern), in the song "Tulip Time in Sing-Sing", P. G. Wodehouse's lyrics include "I'd sit discussing Coué With my old pal Bat-eared Louie".

1928: Coué and Couéism are referred to frequently in John Galsworthy's novel The White Monkey from his Modern Comedy trilogy. Fleur Mont (née Forsyte), expecting what her husband (the tenth baronet) keeps referring to as the eleventh, repeats daily "every day in every way my baby's becoming more and more male". Other characters in the novel are also Coué followers, including, rather improbably, the strait-laced and sensible Soames (although he remains sceptical).

1946: In Josephine Tey's novel Miss Pym Disposes, the title character, herself a psychologist, refers to Coué with apparent scepticism.

1948: In Graham Greene's novel, The Heart of the Matter, the narrator dismisses the Indian fortune teller's reading of Inspector Wilson's hand: "Of course the whole thing was Couéism: if one believed in it enough, it would come true."

1969: In the film The Bed Sitting Room Room (1969), the character "Mate", played by Spike Milligan, repeatedly utters the phrase "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better" while delivering a pie.

So Dr. Coué failed for her, as he did for many others, for which I lay no blame on him. His system was really a form of secularized, self-seeking prayer, without the human dignity that even the most modest prayer evokes. And like all attempts to command success for the chronically unsuccessful, it petered out.

1973: The leading character, Frank Spencer (played by Michael Crawford), in the BBC's situation comedy Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, often recites the mantra, on occasion when trying to impress the instructor during a public relations training course.

^It is significant that Coué never adopted Baudouin’s designation "New Nancy School"; and, moreover, according to Glueck (1923, p.112), who visited Coué at Nancy in 1922, Coué was “rather annoyed” with Baudouin’s unauthorized characterization of his enterprise.

^Baird, A. (1956/1923). "Bypassing the Will: Towards Demystifying the Nonconscious Control of Social Behavior", in A. Baird, I was There: St. James’s, West Malvern (pp.239-246). Worcester: Littlebury and Company Limited.

^Coué, E: "How to Practice Suggestion and Autosuggestion" page 45. "un truc ou procédé mécanique" ('a trick, or mechanical process'). Note that when Coué referred to his "trick", he was speaking of the mechanism, or "the secret", that was responsible for the approach's success (as in, say, "the trick to the hook shot is …"), he was not speaking of deceiving his subject.